I'm an independent person! almost...

Helping Keren memorize the Beatitudes in English... was quite the
  struggle....I felt so bad for her because she had to learn the KJV,
and she is barely learning English with me as it is...
Foto: Juan Funez

                  Update on overcoming fear:  I took a taxi by myself three times this week!!!! Let me tell you the stories on these moments of personal growth! So Tuesday night, I'm home alone while Deborah and Sarah are out teaching. I get a message saying: "hey let"s go to dinner at this place! Take a taxi and meet us here!"  I suddenly get super stressed and inquisitive...I'm like: "Okay, lets do this! But when should I leave to meet you on time? What do I tell the driver? How much will it cost me? And will I get ripped off?" Well, they gave me all the info I needed and said if I saw any of our kids from school in the neighborhood they would probably like to help me! So I walk down the hill from our house (mind you it gets dark here after 6 pm...so... its already dark!) I get down to the area right before the main road and look around to see if any of the kids are hanging out. Guess who I saw: My girl Makayla, who I helped yesterday for over an hour in math. So I walk up to her and go: "Soooooo, you feel like helping me out in return for helping you with your math?" I told her it was my first time taking a taxi by myself and my Spanish is not very good yet. She smiled and said "yeah!" So with her and two other younger kids we went out to the road. They explained to me that the taxis will beep when they pass you and you just stick out your hand and wave for them to stop. When we got a taxi she told the driver where to take me and got a good price for me! When I got in and the car took off, the kids yelled "bye" after me and another passenger in the car looked at me in surprise and asked me how I knew the kids, I told her I was a teacher in their neighborhood, and she goes: "Ooooh! That makes so much sense!"

Sweet little Patrick whose family
lives down the road.

        A few days later I had to go to the doctor to get something checked out and I passed by Makayla's house on my way to the road, she goes: "Miss Julia, do you need help getting a taxi again?" I returned: "Do you want to help me again?" She answers: "Yeah I should help you because I heard you practicing Spanish today and you're not very good with the speaking yet!" Well....I can't really argue that yet, so I let them help me again and I'm glad I did. BUT getting back from the doctors office was a little bit more tricky. I successfully waved down the taxi ..but when I got in and told him the name of my neighborhood he had no clue where that was. So I just motioned for him to go straight (there is only one main road on the island so it goes everywhere). I kept an eye out for landmarks I memorized (because addresses are not real things here, my maps app is the most useless thing i have at the moment) and when we reached it I just said "aqui por favor!" (here please) and he stopped! Not bad for my first time being an independent person, if I do say so myself!!!

         Update on my classes: My Kindergarten kids are able to identify colors, and numbers for the most part. I'm beginning to teach them to ask each other "What's your name?". They love singing our "Good Morning Song" And they think "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" song is awesome. Fun fact: One of the hardest words for them to pronounce so far is "Ears" the sounds that come out when I point to my ears are hilarious! And I utterly regret teaching them to say "I don't knooowww!" Because now they like to use that to get out of harder questions....(of course that phrase they remember!)
My Elementary girls are super silly. Their favorite part of class is when we play GoFish at the end of a lesson. They actually know a lot of basic phrases but they simply lack a lot of Vocabulary. Tried teaching them family members this week...let me tell ya... Trying to explain in English what and aunt and uncle is....NOT as easy as one would think!! But they are cute! Friday I decided should be an English game day, so we played Pictionary and Hangman and GoFish. FYI, I generally don't believe in letting kids win everything (or participation prizes for that matter) just because they are kids (and I usually have to win in order to make the games move along or finish up class, a burden I know!) but I had to let them win a few times because they were getting seriously depressed haha. I still didn't let them win everything though.......
                             I'm not competitive! You are! Whatever!
But Go Fish is the only game I refuse to let them win on if they didn't earn it. We have played it many times now and they know what to do, so I give no mercy! And a few of them have beat me several times already!
               I really am loving teaching at this school! We had a teachers 'party' this week and it was fun to bond with the people I work with! It's a great team! Everyone is good at their job and everyone works their best at all times!
Below you can see a picture of Mr Jorge, who leads the K-2nd grade room, helping the Kindergarten kids learn their monthly scripture during the end of the day exercises!

Update on me: Health has been a bit tricky as of late! But the doctor we go to is super sweet and very well respected! He also has two kids attending our school! But it's getting better and I'm taking my medicine! So hopefully by the time I write again I will be decently healthy! Funds are still around the $3000 mark! So please keep praying for that! There's quite a bit of sickness going around some of our kids and teachers (Flu season knows no borders as well) and we are all in a very tight space so germs galore (It's possible I got everyone else sick). Some of the older kids are preparing for a convention on the mainland. It will be exciting for them because none of them have ever even been on a plane! 

I start adult evening classes the week after next! It will be an entirely different experience for sure! Please pray for that whilst I prepare!

Love,

Jules